It is has been very well documented that educational premises have direct impact on personal, behavioural and academic development of children. There is a growing demand of educational premises in Turkey, having the youngest population among the European Union and Associated Countries.
On the other hand, curriculum in schools is being altered almost each year without a clear plan and space requirements of lectures are also being neglected. When design process of educational premises is examined, it is observed that fast solutions are brought to fullfill the growing requirements.
These inadequacies make the design studies (academic discussions, experimental studies, studios, excursions etc.) which brings out the pecularities of the students by educational premises very critical. The following were considered by the re-design of an existing primary school in Project Studio III-IV during Spring 2014:
1) Re-evaluation of existing standards and by-laws which form the basis for the design of the educational premises in Turkey taking into account national and international good examples.
2) Design of learning spaces by taking into account the participation.
3) Analysis of design components that can support formal and informal learning and development of innovative solutions in terms of space arrangements, furniture and detail.
4) Examination of existing curriculums in relation to contemporary curriculums and development of environmental designs that can fullfill the educational targets. (academic, behavioural and developmental)
The ideal factors (air quality, natural and artificial lighting, acoustics, coloring) that create the ambiance of the space are investigated in relation to sustainability and these factors are aimed to be incoorporated to the design. Successfull example projects are selected for the exhibition.